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Sheinbaum-Pardo, Claudia. "Environmental Agenda in the Context of the Global Governance and Rules for the Post-2015 Era." Global Governance and Rules for the Post-2015 Era: Addressing Emerging Issues in the Global Environment. By , edited by José Antonio AlonsoJosé Antonio Ocampo. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015. 283–320. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 24 Sep. 2021. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781472580740.ch-008>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 24 September 2021, 17:56 UTC. Copyright © United Nations 2015. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 8 Environmental Agenda in the Context of the Global Governance and Rules for the Post-2015 Era Claudia Sheinbaum-Pardo 1. Introduction Despite some advance in the last decades, the state of the environment continues to decline. According to the UN Secretary-General in his report to the Preparatory Committee for the Rio+20 “the environmental pillar is perhaps where progress has been the slowest” and that “most indicators of environmental improvement have not demonstrated appreciable convergence with those of economic and social progress; indeed, the overall picture is one of increased divergence” (UN, 2012a). Possibly the phase-out of ozone depleting substances production under the Montreal Protocol, which is expected to lead to a recovery of the ozone layer in the forthcoming decades, is the only example where the impacts are reverting. Overall, however, the global environment continues to show signs of degradation (UNEP, 2013a). Th e present chapter develops a revision of the main problems of the international environmental agreements, and delineates key elements for the post-2015 agenda. Th e roles of technology in sustainable development and mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change have been discussed in a previous CDP book (Alonso et al., 2014). In this chapter the role of sustainable production and consumption in the context of the limits of growth and global environmental agenda is raised. 99781472580702_Ch08_Final_txt_print.indd781472580702_Ch08_Final_txt_print.indd 228383 55/21/2015/21/2015 99:50:01:50:01 PPMM 284 Global Governance and Rules for the Post-2015 Era 2. Th e state of the environment continues to decline Aft er the Earth Summit in 1992, three UN conventions were formed to address major global environmental threats: the UN Framework convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC); the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), and the UN Convention to Combat Desertifi cation (UNCCD). Because of their importance we will put more emphasis on these conventions and the problems they address. 2.1. Energy and climate change Climate change is possibly the most dangerous of all environmental threats. Climate is changing mainly as a result of human activity (IPCC, 2013). Increased use of fossil fuels, particular industrial processes, land use change and heavily fertilized agriculture, have augmented greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and their concentration in the atmosphere, leading to an increase in the Earth’s surface temperature with consequences on sea level, hydrological cycle, and higher presence and intensity of extreme events (IPCC, 2007a; IPCC, 2013). Regardless of the UNFCCC commitment to reduce emissions in order to maintain warming below 2o C to prevent dangerous climate change; there is a significant gap between the actual GHG emission trends and the pathways that are needed to keep the increase in global average temperature, that would require a 50 to 80 percent reduction in global GHG emissions by the year 2050 in relation to 2000 emissions (IPCC, 2007b; IEA, 2012a; IEA, 2012b). A revision of trends in carbon dioxide emissions (CO2 ) from fossil fuel combustion (that in 2004 represented 57% of GHG emissions) makes this gap evident. From 1990 to 2011, CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion increased by 2 percent/year; and from 2005 to 2011 the years of the Kyoto protocol, the raise was 2.4 percent/year (USEIA, 2013). Emissions could have increased more during this period but the 2009 economic recession represented a global reduction of –0.1 percent from 2008 to 2009. By 2011 China and US contribution was 44 percent (27% and 17% respectively), but total emissions have increased mostly in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). Nevertheless per capita emissions continue to be higher in developed than in developing countries ( Figure 8.1 ). 99781472580702_Ch08_Final_txt_print.indd781472580702_Ch08_Final_txt_print.indd 228484 55/21/2015/21/2015 99:50:03:50:03 PPMM Environmental Agenda 285 10000 9000 8000 China United States 7000 Russia India 6000 Japan Germany 5000 Iran Korea, South 4000 Canada Saudi Arabia Million metric tons of CO2 3000 United Kingdom Brazil 2000 Mexico 1000 0 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 25 Saudi Arabia 20 United States Canada Korea, South 15 Russia Japan Germany United Kingdom 10 Iran China Mexico Metric tons of CO2 per capita Brazil 5 India 0 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Figure 8.1 CO2 emissions from fuel combustion by the 12th top emitting countries Note : In this graph we compare per capita emissions of the top total emitting countries. In 2011, the top emitting countries in per capita emissions were United Arab Emirates; Netherlands Antilles; Trinidad and Tobago; Singapore; Qatar; Kuwait; Bahrain; Luxembourg; Brunei; Saudi Arabia; Nauru; Australia; United States (USEIA, 2013). Source : (USEIA, 2013). Despite the scientifi c alert (IPCC, 2013), the international community is not responding as fast as it is needed. Th e UNFCCC has not reached a post-Kyoto consensus and eff orts to reduce GHG emissions are by now set voluntarily by National and regional commitments. 99781472580702_Ch08_Final_txt_print.indd781472580702_Ch08_Final_txt_print.indd 228585 55/21/2015/21/2015 99:50:03:50:03 PPMM 286 Global Governance and Rules for the Post-2015 Era 2.2. Biodiversity loss In the Rio+10 Conference held in Johannesburg in 2002, the world leaders agreed to substantially reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 as “a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefi t of all life on Earth.” However, the target was not met and there are multiple indicators of continuing decline in biodiversity in all three of its main components—genes, species, and ecosystems (Butchart et al., 2010; UNCDB, 2010). In its Global Biodiversity Outlook 3, the UNCBD presented several examples of the decay in biodiversity, some of them are: (a) Species which have been assessed for extinction risk are on average moving closer to extinction. Amphibians face the greatest risk and coral species are deteriorating most rapidly in status, also 40 percent of bird species are declining in population. Nearly 25 percent of plant species are estimated to be threatened with extinction; (b) Th e abundance of vertebrate species, fell by nearly a third on average between 1970 and 2006, and continues to fall globally, with especially severe declines in the tropics and among freshwater species; (c) Crop and livestock genetic diversity continues to decline in agricultural systems (UNCDB, 2010a). In addition to the Cartagena and Nagoya protocols, in 2010, the CDB adopted a revised Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, including the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, for the 2011–20 period, whose plan is to consider better goals in the conservation and restoration of biological diversity (UNCDB, 2013; UNEP, 2007). 2.3. Desertifi cation, Land Degradation, and Drought Other major global environmental problem is Desertifi cation, Land Degradation and Drought (DLDD) resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. Desertifi cation refers to land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and sub-humid areas, where more than 2,000 million inhabitants are found, most of them in developing countries. Dry lands support 50 percent of the world’s livestock, 44 percent of all cultivated land and store 46 percent of the planet’s carbon inventory. Desertifi cation reduces the ability of the land to provide ecosystem services such as production of crops, forage, fuel, and wood as well as the availability and quality of water resources; thus desertifi cation is linked to hunger and food security (Vogt et al., 2011). About half of all dry land inhabitants are poor and marginalized (UNDP, 2013). Climate change is expected to worsen the situation (IPCC, 2007d). Approximately 6 million km 2 of dry lands (about 10%) are already aff ected by desertifi cation (MA, 2005; UNCCD, 2011). 99781472580702_Ch08_Final_txt_print.indd781472580702_Ch08_Final_txt_print.indd 228686 55/21/2015/21/2015 99:50:03:50:03 PPMM Environmental Agenda 287 2.4. Water and air quality problems Th ere are other important environmental problems such as air and water quality, inadequate access to clean water and sanitation, air pollution, increased production of hazardous chemicals, etc., that continue to be detrimental to the human condition. Air pollution (out-door and in-door) continues to be a major problem mainly in developing regions. Based on exposure to particulate matter it is estimated that annually between 3.1 and 3.7 million people worldwide die prematurely (UNEP, 2012a; WHO, 2009; Annenberg et al., 2010). Surface ozone air pollution is responsible for an estimated 0.7 million respiratory deaths globally each year, more than 75 percent of which are in Asia (Anenberg et al., 2010; UNEP, 2012a). On the other hand, it is projected that by 2015, 600 million people will still lack access to drinking water and currently about 35 percent of the world population do not have improved sanitation facilities, with poor rural population being the most aff ected. It is estimated that at any given time, over half of the world’s hospital beds are fi lled with people suff ering from water-related diseases (UNDP, 2006; UNEP, 2012a).